Shared resources are commonly employed in computing environments. The proliferation of networked computers and increased processor speeds in the workplace, at home and over the Internet have increased the need by users on a computer network to concurrently access shared resources. For instance, printer sharing (shared printer access), file sharing (shared access to files), port sharing (shared access to serial ports) and the like allow multiple users to remotely access a resource such as a printer or file that is located on a remote host. File sharing, for instance, is one way in which users of computers may share resources, such as documents, software programs, and the like, with other computer users on a network. Generally, a user of a host computer, server, or other computing device designates some or all of the files on the computing device as shared files, which may be viewed and downloaded by other users of the network.
Various application level protocols are available to implement resource sharing including the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which is typically employed in a Windows™ environment, the Network File System (NFS), which is typically employed in a Unix environment, and the NetWare Core Protocol (NCP), which is typically employed in a Novell NetWare environment.
SMB, which is also sometimes referred to as the Common Internet File System (CIFS), uses an underlying NetBIOS protocol or a NetBIOS extended user interface (NETBEU) protocol. The NetBIOS protocol allows the applications in different devices to appropriately communicate with one another in a network environment.
Many data communication protocols that are still in use today, such as the SMB protocol, were developed at a time when computing resources were very different, e.g., network bandwidth was typically limited and memory was very precious. As a result, when used in contemporary networks, such protocols may limit overall performance. In particular, existing resource sharing services have limited functionality and are generally not extensible to allow the functionality of the file sharing service to be easily expanded by developers.
For example, SMB, as well as certain other resource sharing protocols, assume that a single user identity will be used for communication between an individual user and a particular remote host machine. This is a sensible approach for most situations, however it hampers scenarios that require simultaneous use of multiple user identities when accessing multiple shared resources on a single remote host.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.